Media News

Morning Media Newsfeed 04.12.13

LinkedIn Acquires Newsreader Startup Pulse for $90 Million (AllThingsD)
LinkedIn announced on Thursday it has acquired mobile news aggregation startup Pulse, as Kara Swisher reported last month that it would, signaling another step by the massive professional network toward becoming an online content powerhouse. Mashable LinkedIn has upped its investment in the content side of its business in recent years, launching a news aggregation hub in early 2011. In late 2012, the company introduced LinkedIn Influencers, enlisting well-known business leaders like Jack Welch and Richard Branson to contribute original content to the site. The Verge "We believe LinkedIn can be the definitive professional publishing platform -- where all professionals come to consume content and where publishers come to share their content," LinkedIn senior vice president Deep Nishar wrote. AppNewser Stanford graduate students Akshay Kothari and Ankit Gupta founded Pulse in 2010.

Sinclair Broadcast Group Adds Station Heft With Fisher Communications Buy (Variety)
Sinclair Broadcast Group is adding some large-market heft to its station holdings with a $373.3 million deal to acquire Seattle-based Fisher Communications. Reuters Seattle-based Fisher owns 20 television stations in eight markets and three radio stations. It runs CBS and ABC affiliates such as KPIC TV, KCBY TV and KATU TV. Sinclair said it expects to finance the acquisition through cash on hand and debt. The company may also raise funds from capital markets. The company said it would reach about 34 percent of U.S. television households following the Fisher acquisition. Deadline New York "We are excited to acquire Fisher and expand our coverage westward, especially in the two key markets of Seattle and Portland," Sinclair CEO David Smith said. He cited their tradition of "producing high-quality local news" and vowed to expand on "those traditions and [improve] the cash flow of the stations through the benefits that come with our scale." TVNewsCheck Sinclair also is considered a front-runner to buy Local TV LLC's group of 21 stations and, potentially, several other station groups. TVSpy As part of the merger, Fisher shareholders will get $41 for each share of Fisher common stock they own.

Actress Loses Age Lawsuit Against IMDb (Deadline Hollywood)
A Seattle jury has found against Junie Hoang in her lawsuit against IMDb for revealing her real age online. The decision came after a two-day trial. The actress, whose real name is Houng Hoang, first sued IMDb and parent company Amazon for $1 million back in October 2011. THR / Hollywood, Esq. In bringing the lawsuit, Hoang was determined to make a point about how IMDb's publication of her birthdate had caused her harm. As Hoang said in the complaint that she filed in federal court in October 2011, "In the entertainment industry, youth is king."

Fox Takes Ann Coulter Column Down After Reference to Killing Meghan McCain (The Washington Post / AP)
The Fox Nation website has removed a column by conservative commentator Ann Coulter because it had a reference to killing the daughter of Sen. John McCain. Coulter wrote about how MSNBC's Martin Bashir suggested Republican senators wouldn't support stronger gun control legislation until a member of their family was killed. She wrote: "Let's start with Meghan McCain!"

More Than 500,000 Flipboard Magazines Created in Two Weeks (Flipboard Blog)
It's been two weeks since the new edition of Flipboard was unleashed on the world, allowing readers to collect and curate things they love into magazines on Flipboard. Here's an infographic with some key stats since the release.

Netflix Users Watched Four Billion Hours of Video in Q1 (paidContent)
Looks like House of Cards is starting to have an impact: Netflix members watched more than four billion hours of video during the first three months of 2013, according to the company's CEO Reed Hastings, who took to Facebook to publish the milestone Thursday.

Jake Tapper's The Lead Getting 10 P.M. Replay Next Week (TVNewser)
CNN plans to fill the 10 p.m. slot next week with a replay of Jake Tapper's afternoon program The Lead, TVNewser hears. Tapper's show currently airs at 4 p.m. ET, and does not get a replay. Placing it at 10 p.m. will give it significantly more reach than it currently sees at 4, when many potential viewers are still stuck at work.

Fox's Greta Van Susteren to Pass on WHCD (Politico / Dylan Byers on Media)
Fox News' Greta Van Susteren won't be attending the White House Correspondents' Dinner this year after a long run of bringing some of the buzziest guests to the event. She told Politico in an email she has "another commitment out of town that weekend and so I am taking a pass this year." TVNewser In recent years Van Susteren has played host to Kim Kardashian, Ozzy Osbourne, and last year, Lindsay Lohan.

Howard Stern Loses Appeal in Lawsuit Vs Sirius XM Over Pay (Reuters)
A New York state appeals court declined to revive a $330 million lawsuit brought by disc jockey Howard Stern against satellite radio broadcaster Sirius XM Radio Inc for refusing to pay him stock awards he said he was due.

eBooks Made Up 23 Percent of US Publisher Sales in 2012 (paidContent)
eBooks accounted for nearly a quarter of the U.S. trade book business in 2012, according to statistics released Thursday by the Association of American Publishers. The eBook industry appears to be maturing, however, and triple-digit growth is likely a thing of the past.

Nate Thayer Disinvited From HuffPost TV Appearance (NY Observer)
Nate Thayer recently became a hero to an entire generation of underappreciated, underpaid -- and more importantly often unpaid -- journalists just scraping by when he made public emails from an Atlantic editor asking him to work for free.

The Bible on Fox News Channel? It Almost Happened (LA Times / Company Town)
If Rupert Murdoch had gotten his way, the miniseries The Bible might very well have ended up airing on the Fox News Channel instead of the History channel, where it was a huge hit. TVNewser Fox News -- or any cable channel -- would have loved to have 11 million viewers for five successive Sunday nights.

Marijuana Mag Rolls First-Ever 3-D Issue (FishbowlLA)
A truly ground-breaking media moment is about to occur at SoCal 7-Elevens, Whole Food Markets and other alternative retailers. Friday, in advance of the holiest of hemp holidays, The 420 Times will unveil its first-ever 3-D issue.